Enbridge restarts Wisconsin oil pipeline

HOUSTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Pipeline company Enbridge announced it restarted Line 14 safely nearly two weeks after it ruptured and spilled oil in central Wisconsin.

Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little said Tuesday federal regulators approved a restart plan for the 467-mile pipeline. The company followed with an announcement the pipeline had been restarted.

Line 14 has a capacity of 317,600 barrels of oil per day. Part of the Lakehead oil pipeline system, the July 27 incident released about 1,200 barrels of oil near Grand Marsh, Wis. The release occurred two years and one day after a rupture on the same network in Michigan, the costliest onshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Little said safety and cooperation with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration was a "top priority."

The spill caused a brief spike in retail gasoline prices in the region. A daily report from travel service organization AAA finds that a gallon of regular unleaded in Michigan cost $3.97 per gallon, down marginally from a weekly high but more than 40 cents higher than the average price for July.

Enbridge received a corrective action order from the PHMSA that forced the closure of Line 14 until a restart plan was approved.